Sierra Leone appoints new diplomats for overseas mission

As is now customary in Sierra Leone’s politics, the newly elected president Julius Maada Bio has dismissed the country’s Ambassadors, High Commissioners and diplomatic staff appointed by the former president Koroma, to be replaced by loyalists, activists and supporters of his ruling SLPP party.

Yesterday, thirty-seven senior diplomats were appointed by president Bio, amid the continuing row over the payment of repatriation costs of those he has sacked.

In response, one of the newly appointed ambassadors told the Sierra Leone Telegraph that “there is nothing unusual about the sacking of diplomats appointed by a former president to make way for loyalists of the incoming president to help promote his agenda”.

But is this practice good for the development and utilisation of human resources in the country’s diplomatic service?

While this question may be pertinent to those seeking a lifetime career in Sierra Leone’s diplomatic service, to those appointed yesterday, it is simply academic, as they now look forward to five years of life changing opportunity abroad.